“Any betting or wagering, for self or others, whether for money or not, no matter how slight or insignificant, where the outcome is uncertain or depends upon chance or 'skill' constitutes gambling.”...Gamblers Anonymous

Introduction

Slot machines, black jack, lotto, the pool table, horse racing, lotto and going to casinos are for the majority of individuals a fun, harmless, stress relieving activity. However, for some, this fun casual activity can become an illness which can destroy both the individual and all those around him. As time goes by, the fun player becomes a progressive addict, waging bigger and risking more money for the eventual thrill.

Habitual gambling is a progressive disorder/sickness, which initially starts out as a frivolous action and ends up being destructive to both the gambler and his/her families. Compulsive gambling has psychological, physical and religious consequences. The principal feature of gambling addiction is denial and the foremost characteristics are loss of control and denial. There is also a propensity to take larger and bigger risks as time goes by.

Like alcoholism, it is a disorder, for which there is no cure. However, the course of habitual gambling can be arrested. One of the central symptoms of gambling addiction is that it becomes a dominant passion that permeates all aspects of the gambler's life. There is complete lack of ability to stop gambling, and despite potential disruptions in family, social and professional life, the gambling goes on.

Three major phases of compulsive gambling include

ecstasy when winning, severe tension when losing and extremes of anxiety in between these two phases.

The costs of being a gambling addict are not only financial. The toll on the family and others around the individual can be psychologically agonizing. Social turbulence can result in marital breakdown, financial ruin and irreparable personal profile. The individual with a gambling problem may develop physical symptoms which may include depression, anxiety, fatigue, insomnia, headaches and hypertension. Alcoholism consumption and smoking are associated features.

As the course of the disorder progresses, the individual may develop working difficulties. It is at this moment in time, that the individual may venture in criminal activities to obtain more funds for his addiction. It is not uncommon for the individual to have borrowed large sums of money from numerous colleagues at work- all the money usually is never repaid.

People at Risk

Today, evidence shows that people who do gamble heavily do so because of the easy access and availability of casinos. Individuals in the lower socio -economic class are more prone to gambling. Unemployed individuals may start out as thrill seekers but soon become vulnerable to the lure of gambling. Gender studies indicate that men in their 20-30s are addicts with slots and horse bets, whereas older women are more into bingo, slot machines and scratch cards. However, no one is immune from becoming a gambling addict given the right opportunity.

Is there a genetic component

There are no physical or psychological reasons as to why one becomes a gambling addict. There is a genetic trait which indicates that gambling does run in families, however, no genetic marker or chromosomal defect has ever been linked to addiction. Features that are more common in gamblers include psychological insecurity, lack of responsibility and a desire to hurt themselves.

Course of Gambling Addiction

Compulsive gambling usually starts at an early age, generally in the early 20s for males and late 30-40s for females. The initial thrill and glamour captivates some individuals for life.

The early or winning phase is similar to the learning phase of a substance addict where the high is fun and the consequences minimal or nonexistent. As the disease progresses, there is a marked narrowing of interests as the gambler becomes preoccupied with gambling and obtaining money to gamble.

However, most people progressively become gamblers, usually after a big win. This is soon followed by an unrealistic certainty of more big wins. Gambling addicts have a predisposition to gamble by themselves and to gamble until they have nothing left.

With time, larger and bigger high risk bets are made and the desire to win back all the money intensifies. This is accompanied by periods of emotional highs and lows. The whole world of a gambler revolves around cycles of anxiety and depression.

Physical Features of Gambling Addiction

Depression and anxiety are universal features of a gambling addict and a common dual diagnosis. Together with these features is worsening and general disregard of personal health. Psychological mood swings are common and the individual becomes isolated, loses his temper easily, and is irritable and almost always lost in thought.

Almost all gambling addicts turn to family, relatives, friends and even banks for money. Crime is a common feature and money is stolen from colleagues and spouse. Rents and other bills are generally neglected. With time, lying becomes a constant characteristic in the gamblers life. Almost everyone in the family learns not to trust the individual. Finally, as the gambler becomes alienated from family and friends, helplessness, demoralization, divorce, suicidal thoughts and other catastrophic consequences occur as the gambler hits bottom.

The majority of individuals who gamble have turbulent relationship with their family and children and break ups are common. Many lose their jobs and almost all savings are wasted away.

Treatment

There is no magical bullet cure for gambling addiction. Psychological, cognitive, behavioral and relaxation therapy either singly or in combination are required to deal with this disorder. It is essential that the person concerned acknowledges the progressive illness and shows a strong desire to stop his activity. Denial always results in failure of therapy. Like smoking, the gambling addict should never gamble again. A major change in lifestyle is required and constant therapy is required to prevent the destructive behavior to re occur. Therapy is long and may take years and professional counseling with Gambling Anonymous is a prerequisite. Gambling addiction, like alcoholism, is an illness, and should be treated as such.

Triggers such as alcohol and drugs should be strictly avoided. Those with associated depression, anxiety, mania and obsessive compulsive disorders, should be treated with drug therapy.

Topic Discussion

Nicole
January 30th, 2011

while these gambling addiction sites are pretty good at telling you what's going on and what I can do to help myself - why isn't anyone offering solid help. I've obviously spent all my money, so I can't afford therapy - which seems to be the best thing to do. I've tried GA, but honestly, it just made me want to leave and go gamble.... everyone talking about gambling gave me too much of a rush. I wish someone would offer free therapy or give more detailed info on how to stop gambling.

I am beginning a new 12 step based Gambling Recovery program. The meeting format will be much different than GA meetings for example; the meetings are 1 hour, no comments, no judging and focus is directed toward the spiritual solution in the original form of the 12 steps and its documented directions for working them. Please contact me if you are interested.

Hi, Nicole! I advice you to find the company of successfully persons who quit gambling. Talk to them. It might be the GA. But also you simply DO NOT GO THERE... Never. Try to quit smoking or drinking and gambling at the same time. Never go again in the company of people who gamble. Doesn't matter where - at their apartments, offices, casino, on the street... Find strong people and talk, talk and listen to them... Go somewhere else (possibly in an other country, city) where there are not casinos - change the atmosphere, a work place...

First call call 1-800-559-9503 and let them provide you with Gamblers Anonymous Locations in your area. The information is free so take that first step. Go to the meetings as you will meet people going through the same situation as you. This will help you realize you're not alone in this fight and you will find that your always a stronger person when you have support.

Here is some advice from my personal experience. My mom had a gambling addiction. She would call me every time she got in trouble by not paying her mortgage or bills. What did I do? I would jump and loan her the money. This was about seven years ago and at that time I didn't realize I was being an enabler nor did she realize how bad her gambling habit was hurting me.

The last straw was when I had to leave my job one today in the middle of the work day to bail her out again and pay her mortgage again otherwise she and my dad were going to be on the street that day. I made her call and explain to my boss she had a gambling addiction and why I had to leave work. I personally took her to the casino and she willingly admitted that she had a gambling addiction. The casino taped her admitting that she had an addiction and that she needed help.

It was extremely hard for me to see her cry as she admitted she had a problem. But at the same time I know it was hard for her to admit to me that she had a problem as she said she never wanted her kids to know she had a weakness. As I understood where she was coming from you still have to remember we are all human and everyone one of us has a weakness to something.

She then let my sisters, dad, grandchildren and me be her rock and support. So my advice is find a family member or friend you trust and talk to them about the situation. Let them also be your rock and support group as it helps to have someone you trust be there for you personally.

Finally you have to walk down the hardest road you will ever walk down with support and go to the casino and admit to them you have a problem. They will tape the conversation and provide you with information to get help. Also by doing this they will ban you from all casinos in that state and if you are caught back in the casino you will be arrested. I know that sounds bad but for someone whom has an addiction to gambling this is actually a good thing. Ask my mom as she finally has her life back.

Gamblers Anonymous has meetings every day. When I first started they told me, if you can get to a place where you can gamble every day, you can get to a meeting every day. It might take months of GA meetings until you are stable enough to start putting your life back together, but the network of help is unbelievable, genuine and they are concerned for each person. Try GA meetings as many each week as you can get to. The belief is that people who go to meetings have a better shot at recuperating. I tried the counseling route and 1x a week of someone who professed to be trained on the subject was a total waste of time. It was like an exchange of dialogue vs. actual core counseling for the gambler. I'd leave the counselor's office and go to the casino. GA isn't like that. You will know the people in the room are there to help, they share their stories, and they reach out to you.l Get to as many GA meetings as you can and your life might start turning around.

I tried GA several times and couldn't connect to the idea that someone just starting this journey could survive with group meetings. I have also tried personal therapy, outpatient group therapy and medications. I still gamble every paycheck and every penny. As my last hope for recovery, I am now trying to get into a licensed inpatient treatment center that focuses on compulsive gambling. I NEED inpatient treatment to successfully INITIATE my recovery, during which time I hope to relearn how to live a healthy life, better coping mechanisms and begin to be the person that my family misses so much. Problem is trying to get insurance companies to pay for such treatment. In the meantime, I will not give up on my efforts to quit but sadly enough, history shows I will not succeed until I receive the kind of treatment I need.

Like I told Nicole above one of the first things you need to while waiting to get into a treatment facility is find a family member or friend you trust and talk to them about the situation. Let them also be your rock and support group as it helps to have someone you trust be there for you personally.

Then you have to walk down the hardest road you will ever walk down with support and go to the casino and admit to them you have a problem. They will tape the conversation and provide you with information to get help. Also by doing this they will ban you from all casinos in that state and if you are caught back in the casino you will be arrested. I know that sounds bad but for someone whom has an addiction to gambling this is actually a good thing.

I guess I left out some very important pieces. I no longer have any support because it has been ongoing for so long. My family wants nothing to do with me because they don't have the strength to help me keep "quitting" and I can't blame them. I also banned myself from each casino about 4 years ago. I have won taxable jackpots while banned and forfeited each one so they wouldn't find out who I am. Again, somehow the fear of being arrested should have stopped me but didn't. when a person reaches this point, what else is there?

Lisa - i'm praying for you. I hit rock bottom on 1/15/11 while at a casino in Pittsburgh with family members. My husband learned how much I had spent/lost in the past few months by gambling and told me to leave. I stayed with family for almost 3 weeks while I sought out a counselor who specializes in gambling (they are not easy to find), self-excluded myself from the casino for 5 years and joined 2 solid GA group meetings that I am comfortable attending. fortunately for me I have strong family support, although it is every painful and embarrassing for me to know that they know what I have done to myself and to those I love. My husband and I went to see an attorney moved our home and cars into his name only. He reworded his will to divide his assets between myself and our children in the event that he would die before I am in better shape and one daughter will oversee my portion to assure that I won't just go wild again and lose all we've worked for over the years. He did the same with his life insurance and retirement account. Every day I think about going back to the casino - Let's face it, we compulsive gamblers just love to gamble, so it's not an easy thing to ignore or replace. I've tried to keep myself busy helping others rather than spending the time hurting myself. The key is to get through one day at a time - if you can just focus on today and not worry about the long-run or future then every day you don't gamble is another day free from the addiction and one more day that you are not behind financially. If you do not have any family to help you then possibly you can work through an attorney to help safeguard your finances from your own temptations. I'm sure there are people who would be willing to serve as an advocate for you. It is a shame that there are not more treatment options for gamblers such as there are for drug and alcohol addictions - and insurance companies need to become more aware of the need to provide coverage for these services. For right now GA really is the best option for day-to-day support.

Lisa, I know where you are with your gambling. I have been there and more. I have gambled for 30 years and have dual addictions. I also am an alcoholic but have been sober for 4 years. When I stopped drinking my gambling increased 10 folds and I have lost everything including my freedom. I do not know what state you live in but in most states that allow gambling there should be help through the Mental Health Department. Contact them. I have been gamble free for 15 month and everyday is still a challenge. I live in Oregon and we have gambling in every bar, store, restaurant and casinos. Oregon lottery has a program for gambling treatment that is an amazing program. It took me being arrested for theft for me to call for help. The treatment program enabled me to understand that my gambling is an illness and the only way to stop was with help. I have been in Cognitive Behavior Therapy for 13 months, the other two months I was in jail. I have started a GA program in the county I live in, imagine I live less than 30 miles from one of Oregon's largest casinos and there was not GA programs to help those in recovery. I know that if I only had GA to help me through my addiction, I would still be gambling. GA is a great program for maintaining my gambling free life but I think first the gambler needs to understand the illness and the physical changes to the brain that occur in a gambler, because, yes, there a physical changes to the brain. I have done a lot of research on gambling and the information I have learned has helped me through my recovery. You have taken the first step, you understand you have an addiction. Contact your local mental health department and see what help is available. Research the internet and read everything you can find. Give some one your trust all and I mean ALL your money, cut up your credit cards and let someone else handle you checking account. With no money and no way to get money you are forced to stop. I wish you every bit of success and realize you must take one hour at a time, and one day at a time.

I also have tried to get all forms of treatment short of an inpatient program with little success and no one to blame but myself. The irony is that the cost of treatment pales in comparison to what I waste away gambling every time but yet I too cannot get over the notion that I can't afford to continue therapy or that it is somehow a waste of my money. Delusional thinking is the most enabling aspect of problem gambling. It is Christmas and I just blew another paycheck, am short for the bills coming due between paychecks and am deeply in debt to banks, and relatives. Btw I earn high six figures and can't manage to live normally due to gambling. I want to stop now but know it will likely pass with time. I won't stop Neil I really want to stop. That is the sickness.

I'm 35 with 10 years gambling experiences. I earned well, but still struggled to meet month end due to compulsory gambling addiction. It also ruined my marriage 5 years ago. My family left me as well because of this addiction. I then went for debt consolidation, the minute I applied for, I got retrenched, jobless for 5months. Remember that I had no cents to gamble, anyhow, I still made plan borrowing from my friends and went to gamble. I sold all my belongings (excluding house and car) furniture, jewels, anything that can be exchanged to cash, as a result, I lost more and in deep debt to banks and friends! Lucky to me, I got another job lined up 5 months later (half of what I earned in comparison of my previous employer), the minute I got the job offer, I went straight to the slots and lost all I have, every penny that I had in my pocket and bank cards! I had to borrow from friends again and yes, it all went to the slot again. The minute I got my paycheck for the first month of new job without thinking of paying debts first, I went straight to feed the slots. Now, I am sitting here with no cent of penny and it is a Christmas day!

Sounds like my story. I am 33 and I started gambling when I was 6 years old. I would go to the horse track every weekend with my parents. When I was 18 I started going to the casino and I ended up in jail for 8 months because of the things that I did for gambling money. When I got out jail I went back to gambling again. I went to inpatient treatment 2 years ago and I was back gambling a few days after I was back home.

I banned myself from the casino last year but I still go there and they never say anything to me. I still live with my parents and I filed for bankruptcy last year because of all of the debt that I had from gambling. I told myself that I was never going to gamble again after my debt was gone but I was gambling right after that. I made a list of all of the negative things that my gambling has done to myself and other people and I leave it where I can see it every day. That has not stopped me from going to the casino though. I hate the way my gambling makes me feel but I really hate the way that I feel when I have urges to gamble and I do not go to the casino. They say that gambling causes insanity and now I see why. I am doing the same things over and over expecting a different result!

I really need help! I don't know where else to go about these issues and I don't want to call gambler's anonymous before getting some advice. I'm 16 and the youngest in my family. My sister is grown up and married so talking to her is pointless since she is not my full sister and doesn't care for whats going with my dad. My father has a gambling addiction I've known about since I was born. It wasn't so bad before when we use to live in Louisiana. But now that we are located in Nevada it slowly began to get worse. After moving into a new home was when it began to get worse. My parents are always fighting and my mom threatens to get a divorce. She is always mad and unhappy. She yells at me a lot when I'm around her and its only getting worse. My dad goes to work everyday then makes a stop at the gas station to gamble then he comes home. When he wakes up, he goes straight over to the gas station to gamble then comes home, takes a shower, then goes to work. I use to be close to my dad, but as I got older I don't know what happened but everything fell apart. I can't talk to him or even be in the same room as him... its just awkward and so I would go to my room and wait till he goes to work or goes to bed before coming out. My dad is not the typical easy to talk to type of person. He's very strict, hard headed, and never listens to anyone. So no one is able to tell him anything. We owe loans and credit card bills like crazy. We are almost bankrupt and worst of all he keeps gambling. Every time my mom confronts him about it he yells and gets mad. When he has nothing else to yell about he blames my mom saying shes the reason he gambles.. He blames my mom and me saying we spend every dime..... I sometimes feel so bad I wanna move out and just never come back. My mom cries a lot and I don't know what to do. I wanna help but there is only so little I can do. He says he doesn't have time for bullshit and has to work. He says my mom has a mental problem and needs to go to a institute, but honestly hes the one who needs help. Now they fight everyday and I know we can't just wait around for the rain to stop pouring. How am I gonna get him help when he doesn't want it...... how can I get him to agree to make a chance cause hes not the easy to talk to type of person, if you try sitting down with him having a 1-on-1 conversation and be nice and inspiring, it doesn't work on him.... so I don't know.. So I need help!!!

I don't think this is helpful at all, especially for someone who has hit rock bottom and could not pay his bills, maintain his living (without a job as he could not find one), lost his marriage and could not get any further financial help from his family because they hardly able to make ends meet.

So, how can any of these rehab facility or help groups help someone who is down and out even though the person has regretted and learned his lesson, and willing to change for the better?

I am on the flip side of a gambler. I live with one. He is also an alcoholic. The roller coaster ride is unbelievable. I can really see the progression of the addictions, We are not married, I have 2 children, who he has raised. I am concerned for the children. I know what needs to happen, move on is what needs to happen. Take care of me and I hope the rest will follow. Does anyone out there have some positive tools that have worked for them?

You say you are on the flip side, and say you know what needs to happen, and that is by leaving your husband. If he is physically harming you then I guess you need to save you and your kids lives, however may I give you some food for thought..... I am a problem gambler and Alcohol is a problem as well but I have noticed a connection and that is majority of compulsive gamblers also have other addictions such as, alcohol, smoking, flirting, sex, and even drugs and in most case these all happen on the same day, time. There is a pattern and it seems to always cycle. I know as I have the problem but I just want to say unless your life is in danger you can help your husband, you have made a comment here so it shows you love and care, running away will only worsen the situation, think of the kids, the house, friends family ect. You need to stand up be stronger and first and foremost pray for Jesus to help you, then go to your husband and say I love you and if you love me, and your children you are coming with me to get help, if he agrees the do it and stay but you must take serious measures but always ensure him you land the kids love him. Take away credit cards and handle all the money 100% start by giving him an allowance each week a very small amount and tell him as he behaves he will get more money for self and control of it, go pay bills together everything do together and tell him I am proud of you when he succeeds a week every week, if he fails say nothing just tell him we going back to step one no money for you, never say is this stupid or detrimental to his nature, get others involved to help take turns in taking him to pay the bills do the shopping make him come watch all the positive spending of money and at the end of the day give him say $10 and say buy something nice for self, if you gable it then all this loving stops and you go to mental hospital and when you come out you have no family. Try what you can before running off because running away will destroy your family. Of course it may have gone to far but reassess the situation and do something of you can, at least this way your kids will see you tried. Oh and point 2 you must give something up as well for him, what ever that is that he can see you mean business, by this one of your little habits go girl I know you can do it, as for me my ex just walked out and I crashed, children's lives destroyed families split and damage beyond repair, I still gamble but drink less, I go church now every week and my life is changing although I am married now to another gambler ouch... but I am working on fixing this by telling my creditors i HAVE A PROBLEM and change all my patterns, I also realize I need to slow the alcohol even more I am slowly getting better bills get paid most time, gambling less smoking less I can see a light at the end of the tunnel, but my past haunts me still, I lost my ex and my children do not respect me at all, I have to live with that and accept the damage as my own fault, please try something I hope this helps.

It is so easy to gamble online these days that I will be amazed if the gambling addiction problem doesn't get even more massive in the next couple of years. There are casino sites, sports betting sites, poker sites, bingo sites and just about anything else you could imagine. I don't like gambling at all (due to a family issue) but even I could be tempted with so much publicity around now.

My bf is a compulsive gambler that led to compulsive lying. We've been together for a very long time. We have twin 5 yr. old girls together. Aug 12 2012 he admitted to me he has a problem with gambling. Along with that came the truth of many lies. For the last year he lied about a job, had stolen a lot of money from me and my sister and he has also stolen money from our children's piggy banks. I understand the disease of addiction I have been around it my whole life worth my father. I want to be there for him, but my heart is breaking knowing he not only stole from me but our kids. He has moved out and moved to his mother's a few hours away. We talk every day and he says he's getting help and that he's doing everything he could so he can get his family back. But how can I go by trusting him? He cries to me how sorry he is and he wants this help. He came clean by himself and I had no idea this was going on. Can compulsive gamblers really get better?

The only way to quite gamble is to tell him go to casino and ask for SELF EXCLUSION APPLICATION. After he signs the form, he is not allowed to go to the casino anymore for lifetime. If the catch him, then he will be in jail and pay money.....

I guess I have but don't want to admit I have a gambling addiction. I have banned myself from the casino and still went. When my year was up I continued to go. I play lottery almost every day that I have money. I have not stolen lied or cheated for money. I make decent money and I live by myself. I now have found some internet cafes which are my latest thing. I love the high when I hit but I have missed a couple bill payments on items. I have a new car but my credit absolutely stinks. I have filed bankruptcy 3 times and still continue. I have put myself into GA. But it makes me. Want to gamble even more. Right now typing this makes me want to gamble. My only thing if I don't have the money I just have to wheedle my next paycheck and go again.

My spouse is addicted to machines in the bars in our small town. The ironic thing is, he only wins tickets (you can get beer, cigarettes, or food.) He sells the tickets to other patrons for less than what they are worth. He's retired military, on Medicare and gets disability. Most goes in to my account. He keeps 600 a month, but is broke within two weeks .I can't keep cash because even a small amount is taken out of my wallet. He has had payday loans. I was in Al-Anon for 10 years and then he quit drinking. I don't know if I can handle another addiction. He doesn't touch me anymore, but has thrown things and broken the glass in the oven door. I want to leave, but I am disabled and can't work. I know he would not give me any money (it's happened before.) Don't think I can do this. I may get a lawyer.

Hi,My sister and I have known for a few years now that my 75 year old mother had an addiction to the penny slot machines at the casino. We had no idea till two years ago how bad it was. My father passed away in 2001 and he left her pretty well off. She had over $100,000 in savings; she receives his pension, her pension as well as his social security and hers. They both worked. She had about $250,000 in stocks; she owns two homes, no mortgages, no car notes. She gets enough to live comfortably and put money away in savings. Now, she has only $27 in one bank and no money in her other savings account and my sister and I suspect that she's taken out cash advances on her credit cards to put into her checking account so she could pay her bills. My sister has confronted her about her gambling and mom lies about it. It is her treat, her night out, and she always wins, so she says. She doesn't tell us how much she really spends to win that $300 jackpot. My sister helps her handle her affairs and she started monitoring my mother's accounts online without my mother knowing about it. My mother started badgering us for money. My husband and I make mortgage payments on her secondary home on a rent-to-own basis. We also pay the house insurance and property taxes, to her. We both are not rich, we both work and it takes much of our income to make those payments. I found out from my sister that she is thinking of selling the house we are paying on. She didn't tell us about it. She is desperate for money to pay the upcoming property taxes. That is when my sister found out she had almost no money in the bank, but my sister found out that my mother had gone to the casino and spent over three hundred dollars there because there was an ATM withdrawal she made at the casino. Then the next day she deposits hundreds of dollars into her checking account. We think she is taking cash advances out of her credit cards. My husband went over to mother's house and found about 10 credit cards spread out on the kitchen counter. My mother also had taken to spending all nighters at the casino. And she never misses senior Wednesday. My mother went to the casino Friday, deposited a lot of money into her checking account Saturday morning and when my sister checked her account activity yesterday (Sunday), there was only twenty seven dollars. My mother called her Sunday evening and demanded the money she claims my sister (owed) her. My sister owes her nothing. She threatened to sue my sister. My sister wanted to her to admit she had a gambling problem. My mother denies it and stated that she would have to mortgage her house and sell her stocks to have money to pay the upcoming property taxes. My sister called the casino my mother goes to and they told her that barring getting power of attorney over my mother's affairs, the only way to get her to stop spending her money on the slots was for mother to go over to the casino, admit she had a problem and have them ban her voluntarily from the casino. That only made my mother angrier and she threatened to disown all of us. I am glad my husband and I don't have a written contract on the house we were supposed to be making mortgage payments to her. We decided we don't want the house. There is nothing to stop her from taking out a mortgage on our(?) house, if she hasn't done so already. As soon as we can afford to, we're cutting our losses and moving. I was advised by my sister to get out of there as soon as possible. My mother will not sell our house from under us, but she can borrow on it. When she called my sister, there was real panic in her voice. She needed money, fast. I am beginning to wonder if either the casino or loan sharks are after her for money. My mother went from a careful manager of her money to someone who couldn't account for why she had no money left over after she got her pensions and social security. She lied about her finances, her gambling and now she has nothing left but the houses, some stocks and her monthly income. She changed her passwords to her online access on one bank and my sister can't monitor that, but she did it to hide the fact she spent her savings. When confronted, she claims she has money in the bank. I have no real advice to add except to watch for changes in behavior and spending habits, and then do a little investigating into where your aged parent is spending their time all of a sudden. I would check the casinos on Wednesdays, Fridays when they have their all you can eat specials, and of course on the weekends. I would also get access to their account information to check their spending. My sister will not try to get power of attorney. My mother has all her faculties and she is fiercely independent. Right now, we're trying to tell her that if she has some gambling issues, she can talk to us; perhaps we can come up with some solutions. But she has to admit she has a problem. As far as she is concerned, we are the prob

Hello my friend, I am a survivor as well.. Went through everything as you did.. Now I am searching and looking for inpatients treatment, unfortunately they all costly.. I am done I spent everything I am depressed and wanted to die.. I live here in the sin city u know what that means.. 24 temptation casinos have no doors to close ... should I move out.. What about my job? That is the only thing I have.

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i have been scanning thru the posts on here. i sincerely hope no one is using any of the information or oppinions on here to guide them through a pregnancy. there is some very good information , but alot of the 'medical advise is totally inaccurate. although i havent ever used marijuana i can tell you without a doubt that a baby born to a mother who has smoked pot throughout her entire pregnany WILL NOT suffer withdrawl symptoms. Marijuana is not any more addictive as a matter of fact it...

I TOTALLY agree with the two of you. I have been on methadone for about 5 yrs. and IT SAVED MY LIFE. I TRIED quitting so many times before Methadone came into my life. Now, I have an AMAZING JOB in dr.'s office, I am back in school receiving my 2nd associates degree and my Bachelors degree and it's ALL BECAUSE OF ME GOING ON METHADONE! Before I began treatment I had went to jail over 45 times and prision 3. THAT IS SOMETHING TO BE ASHAMED OF BUT b/c of my recovery and where I am at...

I've personally consumed 16 ounces of delysm and I'm still alive. Did the person writing this article even look into how much DXM it takes to OD? Its a whole lot more than a 5 ounce bottle. It's a whole lot more than 3 of the 5 ounce bottles. LD50 is 2.5 to 20 grams HBR so I can only imagine how much it would take to die from polistirex.

I want to write from personal experience how utterly painful and exhausting it is to be in the position of seeing the co-dependency of your close relatives and being so unable to do much, because, and it sounds banal, but a person really wants to have to change in order to change, and trying to GET the codependents to change can also put you in the position of being one of them! Treatment centers always want the family involved but not everybody is open to doing the work they need to. Too easy...

I just learned about Ibogaine and also read the comment you left regarding finding a clinic and being clean and doing great. Where is the clinic that you found? I am a single mom and I have been off pain pills for ten years now but have been prescribed suboxone from my physician which was so great initially, but now I am dependent on it and I am just tired of it being a burden and crutch in my life. All of this has changed and basically stopped me from really being me and living a full...

im looking for somewhere where i can volunteer to use ibogaine to see if it can free me from my opiate addiction ive had now for ten years. every day is a struggle, and ive been through several inpaitient rehab programs and nothing has freed me from this terrible disease. please help me find a place where i can be treated with ibogaine and reaserched because i am a willing particapant, i have nowware else to look besides suicide to stop the struggle. please help me

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